Exploding solitons and Shil'nikov's theorem

We have performed a detailed linear stability analysis of exploding solitons of the complex cubic-quintic Ginzburg-Landau (CGLE) equation. We have found, numerically, the whole set of perturbation eigenvalues for these solitons. We propose a scenario of soliton evolution based on this spectrum of eigenvalues. We relate exploding and self-restoring behavior of solitons to the Shil'nikov theorem, and point out common features and differences between our system, with an infinite number of degrees of freedom, and Shil'nikov's system with three degrees of freedom. (C) 2003 Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved.